This was the captain of HMAS Yarra, Rankin. The Yarra was a sloop with 3 x 4" guns. While escorting a few transport ships off the Netherland East Indies the Yarra ran into 3 of these. They had 10 x 8" guns each. There were also a few of these. The Yarra spotted the enemy ships on the horizon at about 6.30pm. Doing their job they turned to fight the enemy and laid down a smoke screen to hopefully protect the convoy. All the ships the Yarra was protecting were sunk and Rankin gave the order to abandon ship at 8pm (1.5 hours after the battle started) and was then almost instantly killed by a shell. Today a submarine is named after him. That seems nuts that he fought all those ships, 3 heavy cruisers and a few destroyers, while he was in "only" a sloop. Must've taken some extreme skill.
Thanks- i had never heard of this battle. I don't know about skill, but sure took extraordinary courage by the Captain and his crew.
Well that was the action that I was reminded of, but I didn't want to detract from the thread. I wonder what other "David vs Goliath' examples of naval courage there are?
There are different types of courage and valor. Some is in hot blood and some in cold. I'm always reminded of the grim valor of the air crews of the three torpedo squadrons at the Battle of Midway as they went to sure and certain death. I think a lot of the nigh time naval actions during the Guadalcanal Campaign were pretty desperate affairs. America controlled the seas by day and the Japanese controlled them by night for quite awhile. Admiral Marc Mitscher's decision to turn on the lights of the fleet as night descended to guide back the pilots returning from the last action of the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. But that was more of a calculated risk which took a different type of courage than that demonstrated by the desperate valor of Ernest Evans. In my opinion only Ernest Evan's gallantry was of the same nature as that of the Aussi Rankin. What do you think? I would be interested in hearing your opinion.
those are all good examples- in particular the torpedo squadrons. I think Ernest Evan's gallantry certainly is of the same nature. I just want to give credit to the other DD and DE captains and crew who went into that battle expecting to meet the fate of the Yarra also. But Evans charged in first. The heroism of all of the American seaman and fliers that day against overwhelming Japanese forces still amazes me.....and they held the Japanese off- only one jeep carrier was sunk. I hope someday someone makes a Movie that does that action justice.
HMAS Perth and USS Houston vs Japanese invasion fleet in the Sunda Strait. Both ships fought until they ran out of ammo and then they continued shooting practice rounds and, what do you call them, star burst or something rounds until they were sunk.
